Stephanie Harrison’s Adaptations Collection.This is an interesting book I saw awhile back. A collection of thirty-five short stories that have been adapted into classic movies. From “All About Eve” to “Minority Report.”
I’ve always heard the idea professed that – in terms of adaptation – the worse the novel, the better the movie. The idea being – I suppose – that overly literary works don’t translate well to the big screen. Not as well as extroverted populist works with car chases and bloody shootouts anyway.
In other words, Mario Puzo’s Godfather novels aren’t entering the western canon anytime soon. But the film versions (one and two) would have to be included in any discussion of the greatest movies of all time.
Meanwhile, the 1967 film version of James Joyce’s Ulysses would probably not be included anywhere near that list. An unfair comparison maybe, after all they turned “Naked Lunch,” and “Lolita” into fairly decent films.
So is it the worse the short story, the better the film?
4 comments
I thought Minority Report came from a full blown novel, The Man in the High Castle, and not a short story.
A heck of a writer that had his work made into very good film, my favorite, Patrick O’Brian and the compilation of his books turned into Master and Commander. Again not a short story.
For a short story to make a good film, I think the key is to introduce a great concept or “hook.”
A scientist invents a matter transmitter, but a fly gets in there with him. Now he has the head of a fly! George Langelaan’s short story, The Fly, was first published in Playboy magazine.
The government predicts crime and arrests people before the crime is committed. There’s Philip K. Dick’s clever concept for Minority Report (1958 short story).
To Bruce from the Bookshop,
I haven’t read The Man In the High Tower, but I know Philip K. Dick wrote a short story in 1958 called Minority Report.
Bill – you are correct, sir.
Got my titles mixed up. Another Dick short story that became a film was Total Recall.